Study: Fathers as likely as mothers to kill their infants

Fifteen percent of homicides in the United States are filicides — children killed by a parent. Nearly 10 percent of filicides occur during a child's first week of life, according to a new statistical analysis of 32 years of homicide arrest data.

Fifteen percent of homicides in the United States are filicides — children killed by a parent. Nearly 10 percent of filicides occur during a child's first week of life, according to a new statistical analysis of 32 years of homicide arrest data.

“Nearly 90 percent of victims were biological offspring of the murderers.”

Analysis

On July 21, 2014, Brown University notified the Deseret News of corrections to data in a research paper by Brown University researchers used for this article. For an update, click on the link here.

SALT LAKE CITY — Mainstream Utahns are hardly alone in their struggle to comprehend what would drive a mother to allegedly kill six of her newborn babies.

The killing of offspring by parents "is a tragic and complex event with manifold influences that are only partially understood," according to a newly published analysis of 32 years of homicide arrests nationwide.

The analysis, published in the journal Forensic Science International in March, found that 15 percent of homicides in the United States — about 3,000 a year — are filicides. The numbers include adult victims.

Children are most at risk of being killed by their parents while infants. Ten percent of filicides occur within a child's first week of life, the analysis of more than 94,000 homicides by parents shows. One-third of filicide victims are less than a year old, and nearly 73 percent of such deaths occur among children 1 to 6 years old.

Dr. Timothy Mariano, of the Alpert Medical School's Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University, one of three authors of the study, said the analysis — the first comprehensive review of filicide in the U.S. — bucked conventional thinking about the crime.

For example, the data show men are about as likely as women to kill infants, "which was surprising to us doing the research. It's certainly not something we've seen before," Mariano said in an interview Monday.

Typically, the general public perceives that mothers are more likely to kill their infant children, a stereotype Mariano says has been perpetuated by media reports of high-profile cases that have largely involved female perpetrators such as Andrea Yates or Susan Smith.

The analysis of 32 years of homicide arrests from 1976 to 2007 does not support that supposition, Mariano said. Nor does it support the commonly held belief that stepchildren are more at risk of filicide than biological children.

"Nearly 90 percent of victims were biological offspring of the murderers," according to the analysis.

It also determined that male offspring are more likely than females to be killed by a parent regardless of whether the perpetrator is the father or the mother.

While researchers categorize reasons why parents might kill their own child, there are often many unanswered questions in these cases, Mariano said.

Megan Huntsman, 39, of West Valley City, told police that "between 1996 and 2006, she gave birth to at least seven babies at (a) Pleasant Grove residence and that all but one were born alive," a probable cause statement filed in 4th District Court states. In each case, "she strangled or suffocated the babies immediately after they were born," according to the statement.

The court documents do not explain Huntsman's motivation.

The analysis notes previous research by psychiatrist Dr. Phillip Resnick of Case Western Reserve University, a national expert in filicide, which breaks down the reasons for committing filicide into five distinct groups:

Altruistic filicide — The parent believes he or she is relieving real or imagined suffering by killing the child and that dying is in the child's best interest.

Acutely psychotic — The parent kills a child in response to psychosis and not to a rational motive.

Unwanted child — The parent kills a child perceived who is to be a hindrance.

Fatal maltreatment — The unintentional death of a child results from parental abuse or neglect.

Popular Comments

Mothers are more likely to murder infants
directly [drown, suffocate, poison - pre-meditate], Fathers are more
likely to shake babies, [involuntary murder], and are more likely to kill
much later via
More..

11:23 a.m. April 16, 2014

Top comment

TheProudDuck

Newport Beach, CA

According to liberal philosophers Peter Singer and Steven Pinker, infanticide is
excusable, if you do it early enough -- sort of like fourth-trimester abortion.

1:36 p.m. April 16, 2014

Top comment

Rebel

,

Many thousands are killed each year by abortions that get very little if any
headlines..This method of killing is accepted by the law. I will never
forget the image in my mind of the true events a Professor at Brown University
shared with with
More..